---
title: "What the sources say about the Resplendent Quetzal | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "45 claims from the Resplendent Quetzal profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/resplendent-quetzal-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/resplendent-quetzal/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Resplendent Quetzal (*Pharomachrus mocinno*)

> 45 claims from the Resplendent Quetzal profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Resplendent Quetzal](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/resplendent-quetzal/)

## Pena (2001). Pharomachrus mocinno (resplendent quetzal). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pharomachrus_mocinno/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| is a trogon of the cloud forests running from southern Mexico to Panama | Cloud forest and montane forests of Central America. Range from Southern Mexico to Panama. |
| Bill to the base of its tail, it measures about 35 centimeters (14 inches); leave out the tail and it is about the size of a pigeon or a magpie | Size: 14 in. (35cm) from bill to base of tail. ... Excluding tail, the length of the quetzal is comparable in size to a Magpie, Grosbeak, or Pigeon. |
| Males add far more: tail plumes that can reach 90 centimeters (3 feet) | Males' magnificent tail can be up to as much as 3ft. (90cm) long. |
| A male's head, neck, chest, back and wings are metallic green, set off by a crimson breast and belly and a bristly tuft of golden-green feathers forming a crest-like structure | The head, neck, chest, back and wings of the males are a metallic green, while the breast and belly are bright crimson. The male has a distinct tuft of bristly upstanding golden green feathers on top of his head, forming a crestlike structure. |
| his tail plumes are iridescent | The most extravagant feature of the male quetzal is its iridescent tail plumes (note: ADW calls the tail plumes iridescent; no source in the pack describes a structural/nanocrystal mechanism, so the body doesn't claim one) |
| Females are similar in color but far less conspicuous, their heads running from smoky gray to bronze, and their breast sometimes gray or a muted red | The female quetzal is very similar in color, yet far less conspicuous than males. The head of the female ranges from smoky-gray to bronze tinged with green at the edgings. The breast is sometimes gray or a muted shade of red far less vibrant than the males. |
| Animal Diversity Web compares these laurel fruits, like the aguacatillo, to miniature avocados, and describes a mutualism in which the plants rely on the birds to spread their seeds | The favored fruits and berries of the quetzal are produced by the laurel family, whose fruits resemble miniature avocados. The aguacatillo is an example of a laurel fruit in the quetzal's diet. Quetzals maintain a mutualistic relationship with the laurel family, as the plants depend on the bird to disperse seeds |
| When fruit is not available, quetzals turn to foods such as insects, small frogs and lizards | When fruits are not available the quetzal resorts to eating a variety of foods such as insects, small frogs, and lizards. |
| Both parents feed chicks almost exclusively insects for their first week; at about two weeks old, fruit, small frogs, lizards and snails are added | During the first week the hatchlings are fed almost exclusively insects by both parents ... When the young reach about two weeks of age, fruits and small vertebrates (frogs, lizards, and snails) are introduced to them. |
| Its feet are very weak | This makes their feet very weak and the first and second toes immovable. |
| Animal Diversity Web notes that a quetzal's first and second toes are swung backward while the third and fourth point forward, an arrangement typical of the trogon family that leaves those two rear toes immovable | The feet of the quetzal are very unusual, yet quintessential to the Trogon family. They have olive-gray colored feet with four toes on each foot (two in front and two in back). The first and second toes have been shifted to the rear, while the third and fourth are directed forward. This makes their feet very weak and the first and second toes immovable. |
| The quetzal's skin is thin and easily torn; Animal Diversity Web notes that because of it, feathers fall out excessively during museum preparation, and that its colors fade fast, making it a poor species for display | The skin of Pharomachrus mocino is very flimsy, thin and quite easily torn. Because of the fragile skin, feathers fall out excessively while being prepared in museums. Rapid fading of feather colors also make the quetzal a poor species for display. |
| The same account says the bird was always thought unable to survive in captivity, so it came to represent liberty to the Indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America | The bird was always thought to be unable to survive in captivity, so it came to represent liberty and freedom to the Indians of Mexico and Central America. (note: attributed to ADW (a 2001 student account) and kept in its passive voice: ADW does not say who held the belief, only whom the bird came to represent liberty to) |
| It adds that the Maya valued the feathers like gold, so killing a quetzal was a capital crime | The Mayas considered the feathers worth gold, so killing a quetzal was a capital crime. (note: attributed to ADW's account by name, since it rests only on that 2001 student account (citing Grolier 1996 and Grzimek 1972)) |
| Animal Diversity Web describes the call as soft, deep and full | The call is described as soft, deep, full and very powerful, with closely slurred notes. |
| notes a male's breeding-season call rendered as "very-good very-good," | The male's call during this season sounds like "very-good very-good." |
| records a sharp "perwick" sound given in flight or when agitated | While taking flight or in agitation the bird gives off a sharp crackling "perwick" sound. |
| the female usually lays two pale-blue eggs on the bare floor of a nest hole | The female lays her eggs, usually two, on the floor of the chamber. The eggs are light-blue, globular in shape |
| incubated for 17 to 18 days with the male and female taking separate shifts through the day and night | Parental care is exhibited by both quetzals, during the incubation period of 17-18 days. The pair shares incubation duties, separating the times of day each cares for the clutch. The female broods during the night and midday, while the male broods in early morning and late afternoon. (note: a duration resting only on ADW's 2001 account, per docs/fact-check.md "Check the date"; kept explicitly attributed to Animal Diversity Web by name rather than stated as a current fact, since no fresher source in the pack states incubation length) |
| Southern Mexico to Panama | Range from Southern Mexico to Panama. |
| Montane Cloud Forests | Cloud forest and montane forests of Central America. |
| whose males grow iridescent tail plumes up to 90 centimeters long | Males' magnificent tail can be up to as much as 3ft. (90cm) long. ... The most extravagant feature of the male quetzal is its iridescent tail plumes |
| Iridescent Tail Plumes up to 90 cm | Males' magnificent tail can be up to as much as 3ft. (90cm) long. ... The most extravagant feature of the male quetzal is its iridescent tail plumes |
| Laurel Seed Dispersal | Quetzals maintain a mutualistic relationship with the laurel family, as the plants depend on the bird to disperse seeds in their droppings. |
| Metallic Green, With Plumes to Match | The most extravagant feature of the male quetzal is its iridescent tail plumes, which can add up to 3 ft. to the birds length. The head, neck, chest, back and wings of the males are a metallic green |
| Weak Feet, Fragile Skin | This makes their feet very weak and the first and second toes immovable. (Birkhead and Brooke 1991, Grzimek 1972, Skutch and Stiles 1989) Skin: The skin of Pharomachrus mocino is very flimsy, thin and quite easily torn. Because of the fragile skin |
| Frugivore (Wild Lauraceae "Avocado" Fruits; Insects, Frogs & Lizards When Fruit Is Scarce) | The quetzal is preferentially a frugivore, yet it often must commit to omnivorous practices. The favored fruits and berries of the quetzal are produced by the laurel family, whose fruits resemble miniature avocados. ... When fruits are not available the quetzal resorts to eating a variety of foods such as insects, small frogs, and lizards. |
| two hollow whistled notes, one rising steeply and one falling, repeated every eight to ten minutes | During its territorial call the quetzal melodiously whistles two hollow high-pitched notes, one ascending steeply and the other descending. This is repeated every eight to ten minutes. (note: vibe.reason (#908)) |
| a male quetzal holds his territory | The male quetzal claims its territory through dawn and mid-morning calling (note: vibe.reason (#908)) |
| tags: frugivore | The quetzal is preferentially a frugivore, yet it often must commit to omnivorous practices (note: replaces insectivore: insects only 'When fruits are not available' (#908)) |

## Powell & Bjork (1994). Implications of altitudinal migration for conservation strategies to protect tropical biodiversity: a case study of the Resplendent QuetzalPharomacrus mocinnoat Monteverde, Costa Rica. Bird Conservation International.

https://doi.org/10.1017/s0959270900002744

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| One radio-tracking study at Monteverde, Costa Rica, put its tagged birds at 200 ± 10 grams | The entire package weighed about 6 g or about 3% of the 200 ± 10 g birds. (note: scoped to the Quetzals captured and radio-tagged in this Monteverde study, not a species-wide figure) |
| they breed in the lower montane cloud forest, then move | Quetzals migrate from their breeding areas in the lower montane rainforest (cloud-forest) life zone to pre-montane wet and moist life zones on the Pacific slopes |
| A radio-telemetry study that tracked 19 birds at Monteverde | During two years of study we successfully placed radio-transmitters on 19 Quetzals |
| quetzals migrate to the Pacific slopes for three to four months (July to October), after which they move across the continental divide to the Atlantic slopes | Quetzals migrate from their breeding areas in the lower montane rainforest (cloud-forest) life zone to pre-montane wet and moist life zones on the Pacific slopes for three to four months (July-October), after which they move across the continental divide to the Atlantic slopes. |
| On the Pacific slope the tagged birds settled in forest between 1,100 and 1,450 meters over the two study years | moved down the Pacific slope into small fragments of pre-montane moist forest between 1,300 and 1,450 m elevation; during the second year of the study, all birds had moved off the breeding range into the lower montane and pre-montane wet forests between 1,100 and 1,350 m elevation (note: the span of both study years' Pacific-slope ranges: 1,300-1,450 m in year one (all but one bird), 1,100-1,350 m in year two) |
| the existing Monteverde reserve complex did not adequately protect the birds' year-round habitat | These data demonstrated that the existing Monteverde reserve complex does not adequately protect the Quetzal's year-round habitat. |
| the Pacific-slope forest patches they used were subject to deforestation and degradation and rapidly becoming more isolated | we identified the areas on the Pacific slopes that are most critical to altirudinally migrating Quetzals. These forest patches are subject to deforestation and degradation and are rapidly becoming further isolated from other remaining forest. (note: past tense: a 1994 finding about the Pacific-slope patches, not a statement about today) |
| A radio-tracking study at Monteverde, Costa Rica followed tagged quetzals across the continental divide and down the Atlantic slope to elevations as low as about 700 meters, where they stayed until returning to nest in the cloud forest in January | migrated across the continental divide and down the Atlantic dopes into pre-montane rainforest at 700 to 1,200 m elevation. They remained in this area until returning to their breeding ranges in the cloud-forest in January. (note: "dopes" is the source PDF's own typo for "slopes", not reproduced in the claim text) |
| A cloud forest trogon revered by pre-Columbian cultures | the Resplendent Quetzal Pharomachrus mocinno, a species that was revered by pre-Columbian cultures |
| An Altitudinal Commute | Perhaps the best known altitudinal migrant in Central America is the Resplendent Quetzal |

## Wheelwright (1983). Fruits and the Ecology of Resplendent Quetzals. The Auk.

https://doi.org/10.1093/auk/100.2.286

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| quetzals feeding on a minimum of 12 to 18 fruit species at most times of the year, and at least 41 species over a full year, but depending mostly on about 18 species of large fruit in the laurel family (Lauraceae) | quetzals feed on a minimum of 12-18 species of fruits at most times of the year and on an annual total of at least 41 species ... they depend mostly on the large drupes of about 18 species in the laurel family (Lauraceae) |
| Living Mostly on Laurel Fruit | they depend mostly on the large drupes of about 18 species in the laurel family (Lauraceae) |

## Dayer (2020). Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno). Birds of the World.

https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.resque1.01

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Birds of the World describes the bird's uppertail covert feathers as "longer than its entire body." | With an iridescent green sheen and uppertail covert feathers longer than its entire body, the bird has attracted much attention |
| Birds of the World, in text last updated in 2010, says it may be the most threatened of all trogonids, and that the cloud forest it depends on continues to decline | Text last updated July 30, 2010 ... this quetzal may be the most threatened of all trogonids and the tropical cloud forest that the bird depends on continues to decline, further threatening it (note: the 2020 version 1.0 page states "Text last updated July 30, 2010", so the decline is dated to that text) |

## Pharomachrus mocinno. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023: e.T22682727A221577625.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2023-1.rlts.t22682727a221577625.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The IUCN Red List rates the resplendent quetzal Near Threatened | IUCN Red List category: Near Threatened (NT). Pharomachrus mocinno de la Llave, 1832, IUCN taxon 22682727. (note: category read through GBIF's copy of the Red List, per docs/fact-check.md) |